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This paper presents the methods deployed by the Horizon 2O2O SCIPPER project to characterize emission performance of vessels, mainly under the perspective of checking compliance to new emissions regulations. Various on-board and remote measurement techniques have been demonstrated within five experimental campaigns conducted at Europe's main sea areas and ports. Almost a thousand of ship plumes has been measured and crossed checked with various instrumentation, revealing the emission profile of ships during actual operation Accuracy of each measurement technique was also tested. Emission measurements are further exploited to assess the impact of shipping on air quality of coastal areas, by identifying the transformations of pollutants performed in the atmosphere as plume evolves and quantifying onshore pollutants concentrations attributed to shipping activity.

Cloud reflectivity is sensitive to atmospheric aerosol concentrations because aerosols provide the condensation nuclei on which water condenses1. Increased aerosol concentrations due to human activity affect droplet number concentration, liquid water and cloud fraction2, but these changes are subject to large uncertainties3. Ship tracks, long lines of polluted clouds that are visible in satellite images, are one of the main tools for quantifying aerosol–cloud interactions4. However, only a small fraction of the clouds polluted by shipping show ship tracks5,6. Here we show that even when no ship tracks are visible in satellite images, aerosol emissions change cloud properties substantially. We develop a new method to quantify the effect of shipping on all clouds, showing a cloud droplet number increase and a more positive liquid water response when there are no visible tracks. We directly detect shipping-induced cloud property changes in the trade cumulus regions of the Atlantic, which are known to display almost no visible tracks. Our results indicate that previous studies of ship tracks were suffering from selection biases by focusing only on visible tracks from satellite imagery. The strong liquid water path response we find translates to a larger aerosol cooling effect on the climate, potentially masking a higher climate sensitivity than observed temperature trends would otherwise suggest.

Shipping is the main source of anthropogenic particle emissions in large areas of the globe, influencing climate, air quality, and human health in open seas and coast lines. Here, we determined, by laboratory and on-board measurements of ship engine exhaust, fuel-specific particle number (PN) emissions for different fuels and desulfurization applied in shipping. The emission factors were compared to ship exhaust plume observations and, furthermore, exploited in the assessment of global PN emissions from shipping, utilizing the STEAM ship emission model. The results indicate that most particles in the fresh ship engine exhaust are in ultrafine particle size range. Shipping PN emissions are localized, especially close to coastal lines, but significant emissions also exist on open seas and oceans. The global annual PN produced by marine shipping was 1.2 × 1028(±0.34 × 1028) particles in 2016, thus being of the same magnitude with total anthropogenic PN emissions in continental areas. The reduction potential of PN from shipping strongly depends on the adopted technology mix, and except wide adoption of natural gas or scrubbers, no significant decrease in global PN is expected if heavy fuel oil is mainly replaced by low sulfur residual fuels. The results imply that shipping remains as a significant source of anthropogenic PN emissions that should be considered in future climate and health impact models.

Currently, over 80% of the international trade volume is carried by sea. Marked by persistent growth, evident atmospheric impacts, intricate mitigation challenges, international shipping has been recognized as one of the most “hard-to-abate” sectors gathering increasing attention from both academic community and governmental sectors in recent years. Against the backdrop of the ambitious climate and clean air objectives, the quantitative shipping emission characterization, impact assessment and policy effectiveness research are not only fundamental to understand the status quo and ramifications of shipping emissions but also beneficial for future emission regulations. Here, we summarized the achievements in shipping emission modelling and impact research in the past two decades, and identified the challenges lying in the transition pathway towards a clean and carbon-neutral shipping. To address the pressing demand for this, we proposed an innovative framework which aims to facilitate emission abatement. Finally, promising directions for future work were delineated, including the indirect effects of shipping emitted aerosols on the climate, the emissions and impacts of novel contaminants, synergies and conflicts among different emission reduction measures, projections on future shipping emission inventories, Arctic shipping emissions, etc.

Material flow analysis is used to identify and quantify the flow of phosphorus (P) in ship-generated food waste and wastewater. Passenger, cruise, RoPax and cargo ships in the Baltic Sea were investigated in three scenarios: (1) if all waste is discharged to sea, (2) if all waste is disposed of ashore or (3) if the food waste fraction is disposed of ashore and wastewater is treated on-board. About 107 tonnes of P is generated annually in the waste streams, with highest contribution of approximately 62 tonnes (58%) from wastewater in the ship-category RoPax. Approximately 24 tonnes of P is contained in the food waste generated by the ships in the study. Forthcoming regulations over allowed nutrient concentrations in sewage will lead to 80% reduction in P from passenger ships and can reduce about 31 tonnes of P entering the Baltic Sea environment. If both sewage and grey water instead are offloaded in port reception facilities, about 76 tonnes of P-reduction to the sea can be reached. As most phosphorus recovery practices currently only are available on land it is recommended to direct the waste streams to port reception facilities for further treatment ashore.

The degree of inter-annual variability in spring and summer phytoplankton blooms and nitrogen fixation in response to the deposition of oxidized nitrogen originating from ship emissions (hereafter nitrogen deposition) was evaluated in the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) based on 10-year (1997–2006) simulation results using a coupled hydrodynamic (GETM) and ecological (ERGOM) model. Ship emissions were generated for 2008 using the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model, and ship nitrogen deposition was calculated using the Hilatar chemistry-transport model over the Baltic Sea. The annual ship nitrogen deposition in the Gulf of Finland was 1.6 kt N, about 12% of the annual atmospheric deposition, and increased in summer, up to 30% compared to the monthly atmospheric deposition. Ship nitrogen deposition caused an increase in spring and post-bloom primary production in two functional groups (diatoms and flagellates), at the same time reducing phosphate resources in the upper layer. Nitrogen fixation due to ship nitrogen deposition decreased by 1–1.6 kt N year−1(2–6%). The effect of ship nitrogen deposition on nitrogen fixation was greater in the western and central Gulf of Finland. The additional ship nitrogen deposition to the Gulf was practically compensated for by a decrease in nitrogen fixation.

We modeled the projections of the major atmospheric emissions from shipping of the European sulphur emission control area that includes the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the English Channel until 2040. Emission projections were calculated separately for every ship on annual basis, and the model took into account traffic growth, fleet renewal, and the forthcoming regulations. The regulation on sulfur content of ship fuels will drastically decrease the emissions of sulfur oxides and particulate matter (PM2.5). As the regulation on nitrogen oxides (NOx) only affects the new diesel engines, the decrease in emissions will be seen parallel with the fleet renewal. Globally internalized limits will turn NOxemissions to decrease with moderate traffic growth. However, by designating the Baltic Sea and the North Sea as NOxemission control areas, more drastic decrease would occur. CO2emissions will stay almost constant through the studied timeline. Results show that European Commission's CO2target for 2050 will not be reached without implementation of market based measures among the North Sea and the Baltic Sea fleets. Results present new information for decision makers to further develop international regulations of shipping especially in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.

Gold nanoparticles functionalized with chromophores are known to present unpredictable fluorescence as a function of their structure. Odd–even effects, based on the number of methylene units of the chain to which the fluorophore is attached, and the nature of the anchoring group on the gold surface have, in the past, been suggested to be responsible for the behavior. Here we investigate the fluorescence processes of two newly synthesized pyrene derivatives bound to gold nanoparticles. Two structurally identical ligands, differing only in the nature of the anchoring group (a thiolate in one case and an amine in the other), were newly synthetized and attached to the gold nanoparticles. The same changes in the fluorescence properties, namely, a red spectral shift with a moderate increase of the quantum yield and a shortening of the excited-state lifetime, are observed in the two cases and ascribed to the proximity of the gold core. By comparison with the results reported for other pyrene derivatives, it has been possible to draw the conclusions that (i) the nature of the binding group does not affect the fluorescence properties of the fluorophores attached to the nanoparticle surface and (ii) much stronger fluorescence is observed in the case of pyrene separated from the gold by short alkyl chain. The unusual behavior is explained in simple terms of competing chain−chain and chromophore–chromophore interactions and by means of proper energy diagrams.

We analyzed pollution plumes originating from ships using liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel. Measurements were performed at a station located on the Utö island in the Baltic Sea during 2015–2021 when vessels passed the station along an adjacent shipping lane and the wind direction allowed the measurements. The ratio of the measured concentration peaks ΔCH4/ΔCO2ranged from 1% to 9% and from 0.1% to 0.5% for low and high pressure dual fuel engines, respectively. The ratio of the measured concentration peaks of ΔNOx/ΔCO2varied between 0.5‰ and 8.7‰, which was not explained by engine type. The results were consistent with previously measured on-board or test-bed values for the corresponding ratios of emissions. While the methane emissions from high pressure dual fuel engines were found to fulfill the goal of reducing the climatic impacts of shipping, the emissions originating from low pressure dual fuel engines were found to be substantially high, with a potential for increased climatic impacts compared with using traditional marine fuels. Taking only the global warming potential into account, we can suggest a limit value for the methane emissions; the ratio of the emissions ΔCH4/ΔCO2originating from LNG powered ships should not exceed 1.4%.